Nicco Baggetta’s OT touchdown, Mark Klemz’s big night powers Butler football to win over Shaler

August 22, 2025 Last Updated: August 23, 2025 12:05 AM Sports

SHALER TWP — Entering his eighth year as head coach, Eric Christy had never experienced an overtime while at the helm for Butler football.

He'll never forget his first one.

Quarterback Nicco Baggetta scored on a 1-yard sneak in OT, and the Golden Tornado forced an incomplete pass on fourth down in getting past Shaler 32-26 in Friday night's season opener.

"So many ups and downs, but these kids never stopped believing," Christy said.

Butler took a six-point lead into halftime, but fell behind in the third quarter. Shaler's Trevor Cignetti returned a punt 61 yards for a score, and Zach London turned a 4-yard sideline route into a 52-yard touchdown and a 20-12 Titan lead.

But the Tornado responded with Mark Klemz TD runs of 6 and 17 yards to grab a 26-20 lead with 2:15 to play. Klemz had 18 carries for 138 yards.

"Just let Mark keep pounding the rock," Baggetta said. "He was tremendous tonight."

Shaler wasn't done. Aaron Aversa found Muhammad Perez deep down the middle for 38 yards, setting up Aversa's game-tying 2-yard TD run with 30 seconds left.

Aversa had 233 yards of total offense for Shaler.

"Both teams played great tonight," Klemz said. "No disrespect to Shaler, but in the end, they didn't get it done and we did."

Klemz had a 9-yard run to begin overtime — both teams getting possession at the opposing 10-yard line — to set up Baggetta's plunge.

Shaler completed a third-down pass to the 5-yard line. A motion penalty set the Titans back to the 10 for fourth down.

"That was a big penalty," Christy said. "They could not run the ball after that. They tried a fade, and we have experience on the corners. We had it covered."

The Tornado scored on their first two possessions of the night, driving 92 and 33 yards. Baggetta threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to Nash Cuffman and 12 yards to Jacob Kollinger.

Butler's second score was set up by a 29-yard interception return by Deacon Simko.

The Tornado thwarted one Shaler drive when Mark Klemz intercepted a pass in the end zone.

Both teams were plagued by penalties. Butler was flagged nine times for 75 yards, Shaler 10 times for 95 yards.

Butler 12 0 8 6 6 — 32

Shaler 0 6 14 6 0 — 26

First Quarter

B — Nash Cuffman 10 pass from Nicco Baggetta (kick blocked), 4:40

B — Jacob Kollinger 12 pass from Baggetta (run failed), 1:27

Second Quarter

S — Aaron Aversa 1 run (run failed), 4:08

Third Quarter

S — Trevor Cignetti 61 punt return (Jonathan Saban run), 10:52

S — Zach London 52 pass from Aversa (pass failed), 2:10

B — Mark Klemz 6 run (Kollinger pass from Baggetta), :14

Fourth Quarter

B — Klemz 17 run (pass failed), 2:15

S — Aversa 2 run (pass failed), :30

Overtime

B — Baggetta 1 run (run failed)

Individual Statistics

Passing: Butler, Nicco Baggetta 9-22-117-2. Shaler, Aaron Aversa 14-23-173-3.

Rushing: Butler, Nicco Baggetta 11-11, Mark Klemz 18-138, Kevin Shriver 1-5, Max Rihn 1-4, Nash Cuffman 1-1. Shaler, Aaron Aversa 20-62, Avery Kinter 5-34, Isaac McKay 4-16.

Receiving: Butler, Deacon Simko 1-28, Tyson Pino 3-38, Nash Cuffman 1-10, Jacob Kollinger 2-27, Chase Boden 2-14. Shaler, Isaac McKay 2-17, Zach London 2-57, Muhammad Perez 1-38, Avery Kinter 2-17.